Tagged: Winter Gardening

Carbon Garden / Climate Change / Conservation / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants

 by Elizabeth McCoy

For the Love of Ferns:  Solutions for Our Garden’s Challenges

  The Fern Solution Once upon a time, I considered ferns the magical solution to most of my gardening challenges.  Deep dry shade?  Plant some Polystichum, Christmas ferns.  Soggy shade?  Plant some cinnamon or ostrich ferns.  A wet meadow in partial sun?  Marsh ferns, Thelypteris, will thrive.  Winter color in part sun?  Plant some Dryopteris ‘Autumn Brilliance’ ferns.  Deer?  Bunnies? No worries, grazers normally ignore the ferns, and especially avoid the Cyrtomium holly fern species.  Slopes with too much erosion? ...

boxwood / Carbon Garden / Evergreen Shrubs / Flowering Shrubs / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Hedge / Hedgerow / Heirloom plants / Native Trees / Ornamental Shrubs / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Hedges and Hedgerows Part 2: Making Good Choices

  Planting Reliable Shrubs in Tough Conditions Home builders and contract landscapers rely on tried-and-true shrubs that they expect to out-live their warranty.  That doesn’t mean that they are planting the most beautiful shrubs in new neighborhoods, or even the most appropriate ones for the site. They certainly don’t try to replace the sorts of native shrubs that might have grown on the site before it was razed for construction.  But they choose reliable shrubs that they expect prospective buyers...

Beneficial Insects / Bulb Gardening / Carbon Garden / Conservation / Container Gardens / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Geophytes / Heirloom plants / Poisonous Plants / Soil Conservation / Spring / Wildlife Gardening / Winter Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Why Bother With Bulbs?

  Bins of papery brown bulbs appear in every garden center and big box store right after the back-to-school displays disappear for another autumn.  I love to study the photos of bright spring flowers on the bins, bags, and boxes of bulbs. They invite the ultimate impulse purchase.  “Where to plant them?” you may wonder.  No matter, you’ll find a spot. As trees turn gold and scarlet, we feel the chill in the air, and know that the long summer...

Carbon Garden / Conservation / Edible Plants / Evergreen Shrubs / Flowering Shrubs / Food Forest / Foraging / Fragrant Plants / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Native Trees / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

A Tea Story: Past and Future

The Long Story of Tea in America Have you ever wondered where your tea comes from?  Tea is one of those everyday things that we can always find at the grocery or convenience store.  You may remember that tea was imported to Boston in the Colonial era.  Maybe you also remember the story of how colonists, dressed as Native Americans, dumped the British East India Company’s cargo of tea into the Boston Harbor in December 1773 to protest unfairly high...

Birds / Carbon Garden / Climate Change / climate change / Conservation / Evergreen Shrubs / Evergreen trees / Fragrant Plants / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Larval Host Plants / Native Plants / Native Trees / Resource Protection / Soil Conservation / Tree Identification / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Myrica Is Mostly for the Birds

  A Mystery and A Memory We found several large evergreen shrubs in our new yard that we couldn’t immediately identify, when we moved here over a decade ago.  We could pick out the boxwood and Camellias, but we were especially curious about the very tall, open shrubs that the birds loved the most.  It was August, and tiny bluish gray drupes were ripening along this shrub’s woody stems.  Its leaves were fragrant.  Birds gathered in its dense and twiggy...

Beneficial Insects / Birds / Bulb Gardening / Carbon Garden / climate change / Compost / Conservation / Deer / Evergreen Perennials / Evergreen Shrubs / Evergreen trees / Ferns / Flowering Shrubs / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Larval Host Plants / Ornamental Shrubs / Perennial Care / Phenology / Trees in Winter / Watering / Wildlife Gardening / Winter

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Winter in the Garden: To Do, To Do Less, and What to Avoid

  We can consider winter as the ‘weekend’ of the gardening year, both the last month and the first months of the year when we can enjoy a much-needed rest from the regular routine.  A period of rest and renewal restores energy to both the garden and the gardener.  It allows us time for reflection on the successes and challenges of seasons past and an opportunity to plan and prepare for the seasons to come. If winter is the weekend,...

Crafting With Plants / Evergreen Shrubs / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Holiday Plants / Native Trees / Poisonous Plants / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

The Roots of a Virginia Christmas

  Our contemporary Christmas celebration is an amalgamation of many diverse strands of meaning, custom, and tradition.  The first English colonists who ventured to Virginia on behalf of the Virginia Company of London brought their traditions and customs with them.  And those customs were already an odd mix drawing bits from the ancient world of the Neolithic Celts, the Greeks and the Romans; all molded into the contemporary post-Reformation culture of urban England. Keep in mind that the earliest Virginia...

Birds / Evergreen Shrubs / Flowering Shrubs / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Holiday Plants / Invasive Plants / Nuisance Plants / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

The Problems with Nandina

  What’s the big fuss about Nandina? It is attractive, easy to grow, and can be found growing throughout older neighborhoods in our area. Its berries (drupes) turn bright red in October, just in time to brighten up the winter landscape.  Some people cut the red fruit for use in holiday decorations. Nandina’s foliage may even turn bright scarlet after frost, depending on the cultivar. It can be a beautiful and useful plant. Nandina is so tough and versatile that...

Animal repellant products / Carbon Garden / Conservation / Evergreen Shrubs / Flowering Shrubs / Fragrant Plants / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Holiday Plants / Ornamental Shrubs / Permaculture / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Evergreen Camellias for Winter Flowers

    The first Camellia shrub usually chooses a stretch of damp, cool October days to burst into bloom.  I am always taken by surprise when its luminous white, spring-like blossoms unfold, because they look rather out of place beside the colorful leaves falling from nearby trees. Bright flowers in shades of white, pink, and red open on our evergreen Camellia shrubs each October and November while the rest of the garden fades, and as we begin preparing for winter’s...

Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Geophytes / Heirloom plants / Sustainable Gardening / Weather / Winter Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Early Spring Gardening- Achieving More with Less

  February is the perfect time of year for frugal gardeners to get a head start on the coming season.  Winter’s garden magazines and catalogs offer a preview of new cultivars hitting the market.  We weigh the merits of melons, tomatoes, Zinnias and Dahlias, working the mental puzzle of what might fit where.  Online marketers become our best garden ‘pen pals’ with daily email temptations. You have probably also noticed how much nursery prices have increased in recent years.  I...